Midway has some stuff

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

For some reason, today, I decide I want a new Lee mold...and I decide I want one for 9mm with RN.
I check around, none of the usual suppliers have one, but HEY, Guess what, Midway has some (6 cav. 356-125-2r).
It's priced a little bit higher than usual for a 6 cav mold, but they got free shipping...so if that's the only thing ordered, it's almost a wash to the prices from the "before times", LOL.

[Conditor22]

That's my favorite 9MM mold.

[Wooserco]

I've ordered the same mold. I was notified as being "in stock." Ordered it immediately, along with Lee's 9mm die set. Waiting impatiently...

[QuackAttack24]

Nice to see things coming back in stock. I picked up a couple Lee 6 cavity molds at Midway last week. The one I really wanted was a 358-158 gr SWC gas check mold. I got an email notification that it was in stock, and when I logged on it was already sold out. You can't waste time thinking about it.

[Idaho45guy]

I ordered some .400 180 grain Hornady XTP bullets from them last week. Haven't seen those for sale in nearly a year, so got the max allowed (2 boxes).

Still waiting on primers...

[Mal Paso]

Thank You! I managed to snag a mold too.

[Kirk Miller]

Thanks, I snagged one also.

[Alan in Vermont]

I have been looking for bullets suitable for use in the 350 wet dream. No, I did NOT buy into that poorly thought-out , latest & greatest from The BIG W. But my son-in-law decided that was what my daughter needed to slay Bambi because the LGS apparently told him it was light recoiling. This one is in a Savage Axis chassis but a 243W would have worked as well, maybe better.

Daughter called me the next day to ask I I knew where she could find ammo I did rub her a little about how if either one of them had asked I could have pointed out that I am tooled up to load several calibers and have components on hand.

So, after searching through every LGS in northern VT(and some not so L)I finally had to admit defeat and put in a notify, last week, to Midway.

It has been wicked hot here and I have trouble sleeping under those conditions so I was awake after mid-night, last night and decided to check e-mail. Midway had sent notice that the 175gr. .355 bullets I wanted were now in stock

Within 5 minutes they had one box less in stock, supposed to be here by early next week!

[QuackAttack24]

I ordered some .400 180 grain Hornady XTP bullets from them last week. Haven't seen those for sale in nearly a year, so got the max allowed (2 boxes).

Still waiting on primers...
Powder valley had some Hornady XTP in stock as well. I didn't see any limit per customer, so I picked up 4 boxes of the 158 gr 38cal. Things seem to be SLOWLY coming back. I was even able to get some Bullseye powder which I haven't seen anywhere for over a year.

[Mal Paso]

So I ordered the Lee mold from Midway to have something in that caliber and not 2 days later I get an email from Miha that the HP mold I really wanted is in stock. We'll see which gets here first.

More than one mold per caliber is a good thing, right?

[John Guedry]

I managed to get a six cavity Lee 9mm mold. 120 gr

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

So, the Lee 6 cav. 356-125-2R arrived on wednesday, still dripping with cutting oil, LOL...I should have taken a photo...Now I'm not complaining or anything, just reporting the facts. The mold looked awesome, as it should. BUT, I could feel burrs on the lagging edge of the cavity on the two cavities farthest from the sprue hinge bolt. I have seen this before from Lee and have learned to try casting with it, before trying to do anything to remove the burr...yes I learned that the hard way, by causing another problem by removing the burr. It's a tiny burr, that doesn't seem to cause an issue most of the time.

Yesterday, I cleaned the mold (hot tap water, dish soap, tooth brush) and melted a pot full of COWW. The first twenty dumps were quite wrinkly, even with preheating the mold, but the boolits were falling from the mold easily enough with just a tap or two. I put all the wrinkly boolits back into the pot and continued casting...things were going swimmingly until the pot was just about empty and had a nice pile (400+) of boolits. I hope to do the same this afternoon. The boolits weigh 128gr and measure .357 south of the part line and .358 on the north side, so they should size nicely in the Star with .357 die. I post this, because I have had other Lee 356 molds that drop small (like .355 or a little less) and I am very glad to get one that drops just above .357

[Mal Paso]

JonB, What temperature are you using? I was up to 730F before I stopped to fix the valve limit screw. I never cast anything so small and had a really high reject rate at first. First Lee mold too. I must have the next mold off the line from yours but they cleaned mine. 4 of the cavities pinned .358" and the 2 closest to the sprue plate hinge were a hair too tight for the pin. Not an MP Mold but half the cost. Thanks for the introduction!

So I fixed my Pro Melt 2, again and went back to it. 140F was the sweet spot and it rained boolits until the pot ran low. Good mold for price! Now if I can find primers and a gun.........

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I'm sure you know mold temp is contingent on casting pace. While I had my PID set to 670º, I was casting fast enough to allow the mold to over heat without having the small fan blowing toward the dump area. With the fan blowing, I was getting what I consider optimum, a light grey haze. I preheat the mold with a hot plate.
which means, if you are casting at a slower pace, you'd need hotter alloy.

Also not mentioned previously, I did learn one thing with this mold during the second casting session, with it's seemingly excess large vent lines Lee now puts on the mold top. When I use Sprue plate lube, while I never try to apply too much, it seems I need to apply less to these new style vented molds, because I get the wrinkles for a few dumps after I have reapplied lube. so I must be getting a solvent vapor into the cavity? I tend to apply sprue plate lube (with Q-tip) after about 15 or 20 dumps, as I can feel the sprue plate open with more friction. I figured this during the second casting session, which was yesterday and I was able to avoid the "few" wrinkly dumps after lubing by changing my technique.

[lesharris]

I just ordered the 9mm 2R six cavity mold from Midway. Waited for months to get in stock. Let's see if worth the wait.

[Mal Paso]

Thank You JonB! I too started with a hotplate but I may need to have it a bit hotter. I need to rearrange the casting area so I can dump the bullets faster too. I was using MP's sprue lube on a Q-tip and it seemed better to apply it to the underside of the sprue plate. There seemed to be enough transfer to keep the top of the mold clean. Your casting at 670 tells me I'm not fast and smooth enough. All my other 6 cavity aluminum molds have steel sprue plates. I could get one for this mold but I think I can do without. I got a nice gray haze on the keepers, no frost on any and small wrinkle lines on the rejects. The wrinkles happened every time I lost pace. I can do this! LOL

Thanks!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Thank You JonB! I too started with a hotplate but I may need to have it a bit hotter. I need to rearrange the casting area so I can dump the bullets faster too. I was using MP's sprue lube on a Q-tip and it seemed better to apply it to the underside of the sprue plate. There seemed to be enough transfer to keep the top of the mold clean. Your casting at 670 tells me I'm not fast and smooth enough. All my other 6 cavity aluminum molds have steel sprue plates. I could get one for this mold but I think I can do without. I got a nice gray haze on the keepers, no frost on any and small wrinkle lines on the rejects. The wrinkles happened every time I lost pace. I can do this! LOL

Thanks!
Yes you can.

[frkelly74]

That boolit is a winner, No fancy grooves in it to hang up in the mold and it feeds really well in my G2c and my son in laws tiny little Sig. His comment was that they seemed smokier than factory loads. I said "that is the tumble lube burning off." I got a new 20 lb lead pot from Midway and paid a little extra for it but the free shipping made up about half the extra. Small pistol primers are the current " holy grail".